Fourth Note to “Khyaal Angiz”

Mashoor Jamal – born 1945 – was a leftist and socialist artist and poet and was the creator of this piece. He was perhaps the biggest name in Afghan music who did not have the kind of fame that his contemporaries like Ahmad Zahir and Zahir Howaida whom he was inspiring and nudging had, but he was huge nonetheless. During the liberal monarchy and liberal republic period which lasted from 1929 to 1978, a major divide emerged within Afghan state and society between the socialists on one hand and right-wing Islamists on the other hand, and Mashoor Jamal of course was a gargantuan figure among the socialists. The socialists even seized power between 1978 and 1992, but were then toppled by the right-wing fanatics who were backed by the United States in 1992. Mashoor Jamal then left Afghanistan and settled in the Netherlands and passed away there in 2014.